Illinois adopts law requiring LGBT history lessons to be taught in public schools
LGBT history must now be taught in Illinois public schools, according to a recently passed law.
Governor J.B. Pritzker signed the legislation on Friday, requiring public schools in the Midwestern state to teach students about the historical contributions of LBGT persons in U.S. history.
Supporters of the law insist the curriculum will curb bullying against students who identify as LGBT. The law also requires that the state Board of Education must provide a list of textbooks authorized for purchase under the law every year.
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The legislation reads: “Each public school district and state-recognized, non-public school shall, subject to appropriations for that purpose, receive a per-pupil grant for the purchase of secular and non-discriminatory textbooks.
"In public schools only, the teaching of history shall include a study of the roles and contributions of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people in the history9of this country and this State."
Brian Johnson, the CEO of LGBT rights Equality Illinois, said of the legislation last year, "We think all students are better off when we teach them the full breadth of history.
“It makes them more likely to understand that a diverse cast has contributed to our society.”
In May, the state Senate approved the bill by a vote of 34-18.
Terry Schilling, executive director of the American Principles Project, a Washington, D.C.-area nonprofit whose stated mission it is to re-establish human dignity as the basis for American society, believes LGBT activists are implementing something much more sinister under the banner of teaching history while schools are largely failing students.
"I can’t think of anything weirder than being obsessed with teaching young children about sexuality. Even most parents struggle with this topic because of its difficulty, but somehow we as parents are OK with a complete stranger teaching them," Schilling said in an email to The Christian Post Monday.
"Parents need to reclaim their role as the primary educators of their children — especially as it pertains to their children’s sexuality. No one else has that right or responsibility."
The recently adopted Illinois legislation on LBGT history, he stressed, is "a very targeted expansion" from already explicit sex education courses.
"American children today don’t even know the basics of history. They are clueless as to the founding of America. They are already essentially being taught that America was founded by white men who oppressed women and minorities instead of what America was really founded on — the notion of human dignity, that all men are created equal and have inalienable rights. They aren’t taught that civil rights leaders like Frederick Douglass and Martin Luther King Jr. viewed the ending of slavery and institution of civil rights as a continuation of the founding principles and not a contradiction."
"In reality, sexual liberation is a secular religion with its own set of beliefs. These laws are not just an assault on the innocence of children; they are the imposition of a belief system through the public schools," Schilling continued.
Meanwhile, students are falling behind on core areas of academics, he said, citing recent Pew research that globally ranked U.S. students 24th in science, 39th in math, and 24th in reading.
"And now, we are adding in completely irrelevant content to our schools which already are struggling with the current load," he said.
The new Illinois law will formally go into effect in July of next year.
Similar educational curricula focusing on LGBT history has also been recently enshrined into law in New Jersey and California.
